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By Sarah Stankorb
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Recent reports claim surging interest in church with anecdotal stories of more young men attending. Christian Broadcasting Network reported churches “overflowing” after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Talk of enthusiasm bred hope of revival.
This chatter came after decades of decline in Christian affiliation by tens of millions of Americans. In 2007, 78 percent of Americans identified as Christians; by 2023-4, the figure dropped to 62 percent. Nones (the religiously unaffiliated) rose from 16 percent to 29 percent over that time. Tens of thousands of churches have closed, with as many as 15,000 churches likely to shutter this year. It’s hard to blame people who have watched their churches empty for getting over exuberant given anysigns of new interest.
But, broadly, it’s just not true.
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Last week, Pew Research Center released a report, noting Pew’s polls and no “other high-quality surveys” Pew analyzed show clear evidence of a religious resurgence. Young adults, on average, are much less religious than older Americans. People in every age cohort (young and old) are getting less religious as they age.
Earlier this year, Pew released its latest Religious Landscape Study, which did note that the precipitous outflow of Americans from church seemed to have slowed. Maybe America has reached a new religious equilibrium—perhaps the normalization of areligion has made it easier for Christians-in-name-only to drop the name, and those left calling themselves Christians really mean it.
There’s a big difference though, between stopping the bleeding (the mass exodus from the church) and a reviving transfusion. And those churches hemorrhaging members may not be done.
As sociologist of religion Ryan Burge noted, in most mainline denominations, half the adult members are 60 or older. In a decade or so, simply due to life expectancy, many of the oldest churchgoers are unlikely to still be with us. At some mainline Protestant churches, such losses could wipe out the congregation.
And it’s unlikely they will be replaced by their grandchildren. Studies suggest the active faith of mothers is a major factor in the later religious affiliation of their children. Today, fewer women are raising their children in the church.
In fact, women’s withdrawal is one of the most important indicators for the church’s future. Traditionally, American Christian women are more religious than men. In most churches, even where women are not allowed to lead, they make up the backbone of church communities, offering free labor to maintain the sanctuary, teach, lead youth, serve children in church and other families in times of illness and difficulty. Without women, gaps in this social network make the church less “sticky” for other believers.
Depending upon the social survey, Gen Z women are either disaffiliating from the church comparably to men—or faster. According to the Public Religion Research Institute, 40 percent of women 18-29 were religiously unaffiliated in 2024 (up from 29 percent in 2013). Over that same time, young men’s lack of religious affiliation remained about the same (from 35 percent in 2013 to 36 percent in 2024). According to some metrics, the religion gender gap is gone among millennials too.
Much as some Christian influencers are chomping to report young men converting in large numbers, according to Pew, there’s no evidence of this. The major, observable change is among women—and they are leaving.
As a religion reporter, I’ve covered the spiritual toll of church sex abuse. I’ve reported on a rising class of skeptics and others seeking new spiritual paths outside Christianity. The stories about eager, conservative, young men filling up a pew here, coming to a prayer rally there, may feel like good news in the short-term for those who just want ours to be a Christian country, full-stop. But they are an anecdotal panacea and fail to really interrogate why millions have left the church.
One big prayer gathering won’t reverse the tide. Even the horror of political violence is unlikely to realign our nation spiritually. That’s because the people who leave rarely do so for just one reason.
Reporting for my forthcoming book, Damned If She Does, about women leaving the church, I found people who processed multiple betrayals and disappointments until their values left them in direct opposition to a church that, fairly or unfairly, has become easy to conflate with anti-choice, homophobic, Christian nationalist figures who claim to speak on behalf of God and are trying to reshape our democracy. Some who still believe in Jesus don’t want to be part of the church because they don’t trust the institution. Those whose faith in church was broken (sometimes by the church) are highly unlikely to return.
And now, as a figure as divisive as Donald Trump has worked to make himself the standard-bearer for the Christian Right in America, the exodus that slowed in Pew’s 2023-4 survey may revive again—with yet another repellent pushing more who oppose his brand of Christianity right out the church doors.
Sarah Stankorb is the author of the national best-seller Disobedient Women, and the forthcoming Damned If She Does: Why Women Quit Church and What It Means for the Future of Religion*. Her work has appeared in* The Washington Post*,* Slate*,* The Atlantic*,* Marie Claire and many other publications.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
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